Journal
JOURNAL OF NEUROSURGERY-SPINE
Volume 4, Issue 2, Pages 165-173Publisher
AMER ASSOC NEUROLOGICAL SURGEONS
DOI: 10.3171/spi.2006.4.2.165
Keywords
spinal cord injury; laminectomy; reperfusion; locomotor activity; mouse
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Funding
- NHLBI NIH HHS [R01-HL37942] Funding Source: Medline
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Object. Due to the usefulness of mouse genetics, there is a need to improve procedures for producing and assessing spinal cord injury (SCI) in mice. The authors describe an improved locomotor scoring system for evaluating SCI. The modified Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (mBBB) scoring system for mice is compared with existing procedures as well as histological SCI criteria. Methods. Mice were subjected to SCI by placing a weight on the cord at T-12 for 5 to 15 minutes after laminectomy to produce spinal cord ischemia. Injury was assessed using mBBB scoring that incorporates elements of the rat BBB and the mouse motor function scoring systems that are best suited for precisely assessing mouse SCI. The mBBB score was found to be more discriminating than the inclined plane test, and in the authors' laboratory it had a significantly lower coefficient of variation than the Basso mouse scale score. The mBBB score is well correlated with sparing of white matter as assessed by eriochrome cyanine staining of myelin. Conclusions. Weight placement at T-12 in the mouse causes reproducible SCI. A new mBBB scoring system is useful for accurately assessing locomotor dysfunction following SCI in mice and is well correlated with histological assessment of spinal cord white matter.
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